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"Discipleship"

Needless to say, living in another country has been quite the experience.  The other day I thought about all the things that we have had to learn since being here; basic things like where to buy groceries, find clothes, where to get gas for the car and how to simply get around town.

One example of getting around town came one Friday morning after church service.  We accepted an invitation to go to a friend’s house that was not far from ours.  As we began to leave the church building I began to walk one direction, but they quickly said this way is closer, while going the opposite direction.  We trusted them, because they had lived in our city for many years.  As we simply walked a few blocks we were at their home.  Once we were there I knew the way to our home.  I had been taking the long way home for weeks, but now after some training I could travel quicker and with less traffic.

Some things that took place in this event:

1.     Someone who knows the way took the lead.

2.     Someone who needed to be taught had a teachable spirit.

3.     Training applied brought about a more efficient and knowledgeable lifestyle.

4.     After being trained, the trainee can now train others.

You know what this is called, DISCIPLESHIP.

Jesus said, “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18)  My question and challenge is to think about who are you helping disciple, and are you being discipled by someone.  The four simple steps above can provide a great outline to get started with if you are not already in the process.  Remember, Jesus commands for us to be a part of this wonderful process. 

A Camp Story

We had been in country for 4 months and relatively new with the language when I was asked to lead a small group. How is this suppose to work? They speak one language, I another. So with the help of a teammates son, who new the language better than I, we lead this small group in evening discussions. The theme of the camp was around the Gospel. Every talk was about sin, the Cross, redemption, and grace. I have to be honest with you, having worked with teenagers before, I wasn't expecting too much here. But then it happened. Right there in the beautiful mountains with a group of 13-17 year olds, the Holy Spirit went to work. We started talking about the cost of discipleship and asked their opinion of it and suddenly one person with tears in her eyes said, "I want to choose Christ." WOW!! Then another person and then another. I was in awe. One, that these students were really wanting Christ and secondly, how little my faith was that God was working in their lives. They showed know signs of it all week. Now they wanted Him?!?! Oh how wretched of a man I am. How can I call myself a Cross-Cultural Servant when I don't even trust in the power of God. God was actively moving in these students lives and I didn't believe that He was nor could! I will never forget this week in my life. One for what God did in these students lives but also in mine. How we must rely on His power and His Spirit each day and to trust that He is working...all the time.

Journey

“So, uhm, have you ever been there before? You know how to get there, right?” The timing was impeccable. Situated in the front seat of an uncovered flatbed truck cab next to the two local guys who were driving us and our household items due north, I suppressed a smile as I internally replayed what had just been said and double checked my translation. Nope, I had heard them plain as day. They didn't know how to get there! “Yes” I replied. “We've been there once before, but it was by train. Do you guys not have a map?” At which point one of them said to the other, “Oh no! We forgot the GPS. I knew we should have brought that.”

In spite of this lack of directional certitude, we managed to navigate the first few hours along the way without incident. As we crossed provincial borders, however, and began to enter an enormously long tunnel with poor lighting and multiple potholes, I began to wonder. Coming out into daylight again, I breathed a sigh of relief and then saw precisely what you don't want to see while traveling a mountain road. Several golf cart sized boulders, along with smaller rocks and dirt, blocked the main thoroughfare. We had just missed an avalanche and now it was time to get off the beaten path and brave the ice slicked road that wound treacherously round the ever rising mountains. “Sweetie, you have the passports on your person, right?” “Yes.” O.k. If we have to ditch, don't worry about any of the stuff. As long as we have those and some cash, we should be o.k.”

Multiple detours later, and noting that our “eight hour trip” was mysteriously elongated to thirteen and a half, we arrived in one piece at our new apartment. With the kind assistance of two local friends, we unloaded the truck and deposited the contents in our flat. After our friends departed and the new landlord said his goodbyes for the night I turned to my wife and said a very profound and spiritual thing: “I'm beat. Let's get some sleep!” I did

some quick mental calculations: it was now December 29th, 2011. We had spent anywhere from a week to 5 months in 4 countries, 10 cities, and 13 different addresses this year. Places we had received mail? Well, that dropped the number down considerably: a mere 5 locations. Chances were, this sixth address would not see any post before the end of December. Suffice it to say, we've been on the move a bit this year.

As we begin 2012, -- we want to thank each of you for coming with us along the journey this past year. Your notes of encouragement and talks with dad for us have been a much needed anchor in the midst of much change. Now as we approach a new year in a new place, we are excited about the possibilities that it brings.

For one, our city has a large university that admits foreign students. This affords us a much better visa situation (instead of having to leave every three months, we can stay in country for a whole year) and also provides a much more stable language learning environment. Even with the on again off again tutoring situation in our previous city, we have managed to learn a good deal of language and feel much more comfortable conversing with local folks than we did when we arrived--. We are hoping to build on this foundation and continue using language learning to keep meeting new people and sharing the story.

We hold firm to the belief that each leg of the journey is important, that no twist, turn, or detour catches our Father by surprise, and that regardless of where we may find ourselves in the days to come, our purpose remains the same. We know where we're going and we know how to get there. For those without maps, however, there are no good destinations and no sure paths. To them, we offer the only way, truth and life. If that's not a journey worth pursuing, I don't know what is!

A Ramadan Story

During the month of September the streets get a little more crowded earlier and people rush to get their food before sundown.  Men gather along the sides of the roads and families gather in their homes with food set out ready to eat.  They wait for what sounds like an emergency siren to go off to signal the official time to eat. Over a billion Muslims have spent the past 30 days celebrating Ramadan, where they fast from food and water during the daylight hours in order to gain favor with their God.

During the month I got to meet with the property manager and guards in our apartment building during this breaking of the fast meal called “Iftar”.  They welcomed me each time we got together and seemed offended if I could not eat with them.  One night it was really neat because sitting around the meal there was a Christian (me), Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslims. 

After one meal, I asked them if I could share with them a story about Jesus and they welcomed the idea.  In my stuttering use of their language, I shared an abbreviated version of Jesus Calming the Storm from Mark’s Gospel.  I told them that this was a true story and that Jesus was very powerful.  They seemed to like the story and said I could tell more next time.

I considered it an honor to be allowed into their celebration so that I could have a chance to share about King Jesus.  Albeit wasn’t much, but it was something to four men who had never heard of Jesus.

 What are we doing to step out into areas that are foreign to us so that we can share the love of Jesus?

1 Corinthians 9:20–22 (ESV)

²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 

Counting the Cost

While signs of religion can be spotted everywhere in our part of the world, true followers of Jesus can be hard to find.   One of the many reasons for this phenomenon lies in the fact that deciding to commit to Christ can involve the risk of alienation from family.  What apple pie and baseball are to Americans, the traditional religion is to the locals here, especially the older generation.  Religion defines them as a people and to leave the established system to pursue Jesus amounts to denying one’s very identity and discrediting the family. 

Recently this harsh reality hit me hard while attending the baptism of friend.  Several years before, as a teenager, our friend heard the Gospel and Jesus supernaturally altered her life.  Wanting to obey her Lord, our friend approached her mom and dad to ask if she could be baptized.   Their reply was swift and unmistakable, “absolutely not”!  Not wanting to dishonor her parents, our friend held off being baptized and simply lived out her faith before her family.  After four years her parents unenthusiastically gave permission to be baptized but said they would not attend the service nor did they want to hear anything else about it.  So on a chilly, autumn evening in a tiny, village church, with no family present, our friend was baptized.  We all rejoiced and smiled that night for sure, but in my mind there still loiters a certain sadness...how sweet it would have been for our friend to have her mom and dad there supporting her.  The cost of following Christ is high.  Jesus warned us, it can even “turn...a daughter against her mother”.   But for true followers, like our newly baptized sister in Christ, Jesus promises that the rewards in the end will far outweigh any risk.  

Cold feet

I’m cursed with cold feet and nothing helps.  I can splurge on insulated boots made with Yak hide and whale blubber- lined socks and it makes no difference. My feet are always cold.  I suppose living above the 48^th parallel where the sun rarely decides to show up from October to April doesn’t help matters.  So the other night I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus to take me home to my warm, snuggly slippers.  Outside the thermometer was registering somewhere between the inside of a Fridaire and the surface temperature of Pluto.   Not surprisingly, the bus was late and my feet were rapidly losing all feeling.  As I was contemplating calling my doctor to make a morning appointment for a double amputation I saw the bus approaching.  I stepped inside and this time I lucked into finding an empty seat (a rare occurrence).  As we pulled away I began to get a weird and wonderful sensation…the heat was turned on (an even rarer occurrence) and my feet were right smack next to the vent!  Ahhh…warmth all the way home!  That was one of the few bus rides that my feet hated to see end.